ill, save a low murmuring sound as of falling water at a distance.

"They must be all out," said Mark in a low voice. "Gone on some raid.
Well, we shall catch them when they come back."

Chirp!

"Who did that?" said Ralph quickly, at the sound of a steel weapon
striking against the rock.

But no one answered; and as they advanced slowly, and Mark stooped to
pick up his burning link once more where it lay against the corner of
the natural passage, Ralph seized the opportunity to change his sword to
his left hand, and swing his round the corner out of sight.

They heard it fall, and the glow struck against the wall to their left,
lighting up the passage beyond the corner.

"Take care, Master Mark," whispered Dan Rugg.

"Ay, and you too, Master Ralph," whispered Nick Garth. "P'r'aps they're
lying wait for us."

"No," said Mark, aloud. "They're away somewhere, and I hope they
haven't seen our lights."

Whizz--thud!

There was an involuntary start from the attacking party, for at that
moment the burning link Ralph had thrown came sharply back, struck
against the wall where the glow had shone just before, and dropped,
blazing and smoking, nearly at their feet.

"That settles it," said Mark excitedly.

"Yes, and that explains the chink I heard. They're waiting for us.
Ready? We must charge."

Ralph's words were followed by the pressing forward of the men behind--
those of each family being eager to prove their valour by being before
their rivals; and the next minute half-a-dozen were round the corner,
with the two lads at their head, to find that the passage had suddenly
widened out into a roomy chamber, toward whose high roof the smoke from
the torches slowly ascended, and contracted again at the end, about a
dozen yards away.

"Yes, I remember," whispered Ralph. "I had forgotten: it goes off in a
passage round to the left again at that corner."

The men crowded in after them, finding ample room now, and all looked
about, puzzled, for the enemy who had hurled back the link, several of
those present being ready to place a strange interpretation upon the
mystery.

But the explanation was plain enough when they reached the end of the
chamber, where the onward passage was but a crack some two feet wide,
with a bristling palisade of pike-heads to bar their further progress.
There was no hesitation. At the sight of something real to attack, Mark
uttered a shout.

"Here they are, lads," he cried. "Now